COMMENT
9
and responsible democratic politics. When touching on the larger
issues, they attempted to distinguish between neoconservatism, con–
servatism, anticommunism and Reaganism. Insofar as they spoke of
the left, they separated themselves from it by their realization that
the Soviet Union is not a benign power; that the Sandinistas' Presi–
dent Ortega may be pursuing a political agenda and tactics similar
to those of Fidel Castro; and that one ought to debate the possibility
of a politics of some sort of deterrence and an intelligent foreign
policy rather than blindly support the peace movement.
I had to leave for Vienna before the last session, "What Is To
Be Done." Upon landing, I found out that the New York stock
market had crashed. While giving lectures and attending con–
ferences, I forget about the Second Thoughters, and instead, watched
for the Europeans' reactions to the decline of the dollar, and to
the volatility of
all
the stock markets. Many of the Austrians, Hun–
garians, Germans, French , and Spaniards I met had trouble con–
cealing their glee - as they were raking in (and betting on) J ap–
anese yen instead of American dollars . Basically, the Europeans
(rightly or wrongly) were waiting for an American leadership to as–
sert itself, which they once again were bound to resent. They looked
expectantly to Ronald Reagan, just as they had to Jimmy Carter
and Lyndon Johnson. None of them could grasp that the domestic
issues of a superpower could allow internal squabbles or electoral
politics to set its international agenda. Nor did they care who
sold weapons to the
contras,
which presidental candidate slept with
whom, or who lied to whom: didn't Americans know that politicians
deal in everything including weapons and have their mistresses (of–
ficial and unofficial ones), and that lying is their stock-in-trade?
"One simply must not get caught," they repeatedly said.
While the European intellectuals and press were berating us for
our naivete, this time for our navel-gazing in the form of the Bork
hearings, they stressed our
former
industrial prowess, and the erosion
of our political credibility. Yet, instead of addressing these extremely
serious issues, our own critical leftist press seemed to be more con–
cerned with attacking the Second Thoughters , whom they had re–
fused to debate at the conference itself, than with the general debacle
in the country.
Although I never have supported Ronald Reagan , I have come
to the realization that Reagan-bashing, and attacks on all those who
try to address the basic problems of the country, has taken the place
of dealing with the enormous problems facing both present and
